WEEKEND REFLECTIONS - MEMORIAL DAY AND MORE

This weekend is Memorial Day Weekend--officially. It is a day of cultural/national significance with a highly spiritual value as well. I remember as a boy growing up in small town western Ohio, the excite of Memorial Day morning. It seemed like the entire population of that little village of 600 people would show up to the park in the center of the village. It would begin with a great parade from the bridge entering the town to the park at its center. A color guard of veterans in their uniforms and the high school band. This was followed by a ceremony ending with a seven gun salute fired three times and taps. When it was all over, we kids, who had little clue about the solemnity of the occasion would scramble in the grass for the prize - the spent


shell casings. It was only later that I would learn of real war and the real sacrifice that men and women would make to give me the freedom to celebrate childlike on an idyllic holiday marking the beginning of summer. I wonder how many of us will approach this as a holiday for barbecues, mulching the yard, a swim in the pool, a round of golf, or as in my town of Landisville a smorgasbord of yard sales and not remember and thank God for those who went into harms way for our freedom and our peace.



Our church FACEBOOK PAGE now has 137 fans. I wonder if we are using it for good and for God or for drivel and the devil. Social networking is a wonderful tool for the Gospel, but a whole lot of humanity uses it for venting their spleen or expounding on the trivial.


The biscuits? Just for a pleasant visual.
Just to remind you of some of the simple pleasures in life. Gravy or honey. Just a delight.

And now American Idol is reaching is final. Farewell Simon. You have added some interesting things to our culture and have united many Americans in their dislike of your manner. But I confess. You are a cultural genius.